MISSISSIPPI RIVER RUNNIN’ BACKWARDS
Tom Russell
(G) Mississippi River runnin' backwards,
(Am) Earthquakes shook the land (Am7) (Am)
It (D) happened down here in 1912,
It's (C) happenin' here a(G)gain
(G)Feast and famine, ya'll, fire and flood -
Abomi(Am)nations, you understand? (Am7) (Am)
Don't (D) need no Old Testament prophet to tell me,
We ain't (C) livin' in the Promised (G) Land
Chorus:
Everybody sing, (G) blow Gabriel blow,
(Am) Blow that ragtime jazz
(Bm) Judgement day is (Em) comin' down
On the (Am) land of the (C) razzma(G)tazz
I saw carpet sweepers and microwave ovens,
I saw busted-out television screens
Empty of TV evangelist cats
With their hair all slicked down with Brylcreem
Now the gospel news is really real bad news,
No need to invent all that doom and gloom
It's a one-legged race to the liquor store,
Then a hop, skip and jump into the tomb
Chorus
(F) Steamboat whistles blowin' underwater
Everything (C) backwards and upside down
(F) Baby Moses in the bulrushes
Paddling (D) Sideways to higher ground
Old ladies gamblin' in riverboat casinos;
Whirlpools swallowed 'em down
Insurance executives and Fuller Brush salesmen
Bushwhacked tryin' to leave town
But their lifeboats went backwards
Up the Mississippi River,
Into the ancient old Missouri sod
Up through Iowa and Minnesota,
Into the hands of a righteous God
Chorus